Quick Release Screen for Vent Assemblies

ABSTRACT

A screen member, for a vent assembly including a housing with an inner side, has a base ring and a screen coupled to the base ring. The attachment mechanism is unitarily formed with the base ring to enable readily removal of the screen member. A plurality of cantilevered extending members form part of the attachment mechanism. The extending members include a retaining member on its distal end to secure the screen member in the cut out of the housing. Also, a spacer is on at least one extending member to reduce the play between the extending members and the housing.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to vent assemblies and, more particularly, to a vent assembly that includes a housing, a fan within the housing, and a screen that quickly connects and disconnects with the housing.

BACKGROUND

In motor vehicles, such as a motor coaches that include a large living area, it is desirable to have a vent assembly that enables the interior of the coach to be vented to the outside. Ordinarily, a vent assembly is utilized to move air either into or out of the interior of the motor coach. One such fan assembly is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,769 entitled “Roof Vent Fan Assembly”.

The assemblies ordinarily include a screen member that prevents objects, such as road debris, from coming into the motor coach. Also, the screen member prohibits insects or the like from entering into the interior of the motor coach. During use, it is possible that the screen member may encounter various types of debris that sticks to the screen member. Thus, this necessitates cleaning of the screen member. In order to clean the screen member, the screen member must be removed from the vent assembly housing.

In order to prevent vibration of the screen assembly during use, the screen assembly is securely fixed to the housing by screws or the like. While the screws fix the screen member onto the vent housing, it is tedious and burdensome to remove all of the screws in order to clean the screen member. However, in order to prevent vibration and the annoying noises that come from a vibrating screen member, the screen member must be securely attached to the housing. Thus, it would be desirable to have a quick disconnect screen member that provides a tight fit to prohibit vibration of the screen member in the vent housing.

The disclosure provides a screen member that has a quick connect/disconnect mechanism to attach with the housing. The screen member includes a mechanism to reduce vibration to prohibit annoying rattling noise or the like of the screen member in the vent assembly housing during operation of the fan. The quick disconnect screen member enables quick and easy cleaning of the screen member.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, a vent assembly comprises a housing having two sides, an outer side and an inner side. An opening extends through the housing. A cover is coupled with the housing on the outer side to cover the opening. Preferably, a fan including a motor and blade is positioned in the opening to move air through the opening of the housing. A wall member is on the inner side of the housing. The wall member has a cut out as well as a desired thickness. The cut out has a desired configuration defining a perimeter. A screen member has a configuration to cover the perimeter of the cut out. The screen member has a base ring and a screen coupled with the base ring. An attachment mechanism quickly connects and disconnects the screen member to the inner side wall member. The attachment member includes a plurality of cantilevered extending members positioned on the base ring. Each extending member includes a retaining member at its distal end. The retaining member retains the base ring on the inner side wall. A spacer is on at least one of the extending members. The spacer is positioned between the retaining member and the base ring. The spacer contacts the edge thickness of the perimeter of the wall cut out to reduce play between the extending member and the wall member. Each extending member may include a spacer. The retaining members generally have an overall ellipsoidal shape. The spacer has a hemispherical shape. The retaining member and spacer project from the same side of the extending member. The attachment member is unitarily formed with the base ring from a polymeric material.

Accordingly to a second aspect of the disclosure, a screen member is disclosed to attach to a vent assembly that includes an inner side wall having a thickness with a cut out with a desired configuration to define a perimeter of the cut out. The screen member has a configuration to cover the cut out perimeter. The screen member has a base ring and a screen coupled with the base ring. An attachment mechanism readily connects and disconnects the screen member to the inner wall of the housing. The attachment member includes a plurality of cantilevered extending members positioned about the periphery of the base ring. Each extending member includes a retaining member on its distal end to retain the base ring on the inner side wall of the housing. A spacer is on at least one of the extending members. The spacer is positioned between the retaining member and the base ring. The spacer contacts the edge of the perimeter thickness of the wall cut out in order to reduce play between the extending members and the wall member. Ordinarily, each extending member includes a spacer. The retaining members generally have an overall ellipsoidal shape. The spacers have a hemispherical shape. The retaining member and spacer project from the same side of the extending member. The attachment member is unitarily formed with a base ring from a plastic material.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vent assembly in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the inner side of the vent assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the screen member.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of FIG. 3 illustrating an attachment member.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view of FIG. 2 along line 5-5 thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.

Turning to the figures, a vent assembly is illustrated and designated with the reference numeral 10. The vent assembly 10 includes a housing 12 and cover 14. A hinge 16 pivotally couples the cover 14 with the housing 12 on its outer base or deck lid 18. The housing includes an inner side 20 which would be positioned inside of the vehicle. The housing 12 also includes an opening 22 which extends through the housing 12.

An optional fan assembly 30 including a blade 32 and a motor 36 is positioned in the opening 22 in the housing 12. When the fan assembly is not included, the vent assembly is a static vent. The fan blade 32 rotates in the opening to either withdraw air out of or deliver air into the interior of the vehicle. A mechanism 40 is positioned on the housing 12 to raise and lower the cover 14 from the housing. The mechanism 40 may be any type of raising and lowering mechanisms, however, it may be like the one illustrated in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/811,297, filed Jun. 8, 2007 entitled “Mechanism for Opening a Vent Cover”, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.

Turning to FIG. 2, the inner side wall 24 includes a cut out 26 that has a desired configuration. The cut out 26 opening is illustrated as circular. However, the cut out opening may be rectangular, elliptical or any other type of configuration. The side wall 24 has a desired thickness and defines an edge 28 at the periphery of the cut out 26 opening.

A screen member 50 covers the cut out 26 opening. The screen member 50 includes a quick connect/disconnect attachment 52 to connect the screen member 50 with the inner side wall member 24. The screen member 50 includes a base ring 54 attached with a screen 56. The screen is ordinarily heat staked, glued or the like to the plastic base ring 54 to form an integral part. The base ring 54 is formed from a plastic part and includes a configuration to cover the cut out 26 opening of the inner wall 24. The base ring 54 also includes a handle 58 that enables the screen member 50 to be removed from the cut out 26 of the inner wall 24. The handle 58 may be a contoured raised portion as shown. Also, other types and configurations may be utilized to provide a gripping surface to remove and insert the screen member 50 into the cut out 26.

The attachment mechanism 52 includes a plurality of cantilevered extending members 60. The extending members 60 are unitarily formed with the base ring 54. Thus, the extending members 60 are formed from the same plastic material as the base ring 54. The extending members 60 are positioned about the periphery of the base ring 54. Ordinarily, the extending members 60 are positioned on the base member 54 such that a closed line above the extending members 60 define a configuration sized to fit inside the desired configuration of the cut out 26.

Generally, the extending members 60 include a retaining member 62. The retaining members 62 projects from the cantilevered member 60 so that it projects beyond the thickness of the inner wall 24, as illustrated in FIG. 5, to retain the screen member 50 onto the cut out 26 of the inner wall 24. The retaining member 62 generally has an ellipsoidal shape. Thus, the curved surface 64 of the ellipsoidal shape enables the extending member 60 to be pushed inward when the retaining member 62 is in contact with the cut out edge 28 of the inner wall member 24. This enables the extending member 60 to move inward enabling the retaining members 62 to move past the thickness of the edge 28, the inner wall 24 and then expand sandwiching the inner wall between the retaining member 62 and base ring 54 to retain the screen member 50 about the cut out 26.

At least one and preferably all of the extending members 60 include a spacer 70. The spacer 70 is positioned between the base ring 54 and the retaining member 62. The spacer 70 contacts the edge 28 of the perimeter of the cut out 26 to reduce play of the screen member 50 in the cut out 26. By reducing play, the spacer 70 additionally reduces the vibration of the screen member 50 in the cut out opening during operation of the fan. The spacer 70 generally has a hemispherical surface 72 which contacts the edge 28 of the cut out 26 as illustrated in FIG. 5. Thus, by contacting of the edge 28 of the inner wall 24 the screen member 50 is maintained in position to eliminate any annoying rattling, shimming noise of the screen member during operation of the fan 30.

The screen member 50 is installed into the cut out 26 by positioning some of the extending members 60 into the cut out 26 with the retaining members 62 above the wall 24 of the inner side. As the retaining members 62 contact the edge 28 of the wall 24, the retaining members 62 are moved inwardly toward the center of the cut out 26. As this occurs, the ellipsoidal surface enables the retaining members 62 to slide on the edge 28 of the wall 24 until their centers extend over the other side of the thickness of the inner wall 24 to apply a downward force on the inner wall 24. As this occurs, the extending members 60 move outwardly so that the retaining members 62 project over top of the inside surface of the inner wall 24 sandwiching the wall 24 between the retaining member 62 and base rings 54. Also, as this occurs, the spacer 70 contacts the edge 28 to maintain the extending members 60 in position against the edge 28 of the cut out 26. Thus, this eliminates play and vibration of the screen member 50 in the cut out opening.

The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A vent assembly comprising: a housing having an inner side and an outer side with an opening through said housing; a cover coupled with said housing on said outer side for covering said opening; a fan including a motor and a blade positioned in said opening for moving air through said housing; a wall member on said inner side, said wall member having a cut out, said wall member having a desired thickness, said cut out having a desired configuration defining a perimeter edge of said cut out; a screen member having a configuration to cover said cut out, said screen member having a base ring and a screen coupled with said base ring; an attachment mechanism for ready removal of said screen member from said inner side, said attachment member including a plurality of cantilevered extending members positioned on said base ring, said extending members including a retaining member on its distal end for retaining said base ring on inner side wall; and a spacer on at least one of said retaining extending members, said spacer positioned between said retaining member and said base ring, said spacer contacting said perimeter edge of the wall cut out for reducing play between said extending member and said wall.
 2. The fan of claim 1, wherein each extending member includes a spacer.
 3. The fan of claim 1, wherein said retaining member has an overall ellipsoidal shape.
 4. The fan of claim 1, wherein said spacer has a hemispherical shape.
 5. The fan of claim 1, wherein said retaining member and spacer protect from the same side of the extending member.
 6. The fan of claim 1, wherein said attachment member provides a quick release.
 7. The fan of claim 1, wherein said attachment member is unitarily formed with said base ring.
 8. A screen member for attaching to a vent assembly having an inner side wall having a thickness with a cut out with a desired configuration defining a perimeter edge of the cut out, said screen member comprising: a base ring and a screen coupled with said base ring said screen member having a configuration to cover said cut out; an attachment mechanism for ready removal of said screen member from the inner side wall, said attachment member including a plurality of cantilevered extending members positioned on said base ring, said extending members including a retaining member on its distal end for retaining said base ring on the inner side wall; and a spacer on at least one of said extending members, said spacer positioned between said retaining member and said base ring, said spacer contacting the perimeter edge of the wall cut out for reducing play between said extending member and the wall.
 9. The fan of claim 2, wherein each extending member includes a spacer.
 10. The fan of claim 2, wherein said retaining member has an overall ellipsoidal shape.
 11. The fan of claim 2, wherein said spacer has a hemispherical shape.
 12. The fan of claim 2, wherein said retaining member and spacer protect from the same side of the extending member.
 13. The fan of claim 2, wherein said attachment member provides a quick release.
 14. The fan of claim 2, wherein said attachment member is unitarily formed with said base ring. 